Source: United States Senator for Ohio Sherrod Brown
Brown Maintains that USMCA is the Floor – Not the Ceiling – For Future Trade Agreements
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is standing with workers following the announcement that the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and Tridonex, an auto parts factory located in Matamoros in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, have reached an agreement following a complaint filed under the Brown-Wyden Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The complaint was originally filed by AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Sindicato Nacional Independiente de Trabajadores de Industrias y de Servicios MOVIMIENTO 20/32 (SNITIS), and Public Citizen. Brown fought for and successfully secured important worker-empowering provision as part of the USMCA, for the first time, empowering workers to bring cases alleging labor violations at the facility level.
“I want to thank Ambassador Tai and the team at USTR for working hard to reach a pro-worker settlement with Tridonex,” said Brown. “The Brown-Wyden rapid response mechanism was designed for cases just like this – to empower all workers to exercise their right to alert us of any outrageous violations of their rights. And, while I hope to see companies do more for workers in the future, the agreement reached and the $600,000 in back-pay for workers unfairly terminated never would have been possible before USMCA. This result is why the Brown-Wyden Rapid Response Mechanism and the rewrite of NAFTA were so important. Companies with a history of labor law violations in Mexico are on notice.”
The Brown-Wyden Provision that Brown helped secure represents the first-ever overhaul of labor enforcement standards in a trade agreement since the U.S. started negotiating trade deals. The new agreement allows workers in Mexico to report when a company is violating their rights and seek immediate action if it’s determined that workers’ rights have been violated. The Brown-Wyden RRM allows for punitive damages when corporations violate labor protections, and gives the authority for the U.S. to prevent goods from coming into America if companies continue their anti-worker tactics. When corporations are held accountable in paying workers a living wage and treating them fairly, regardless of where those workers are located, companies no longer have an incentive to move jobs abroad – thereby protecting workers on both sides of the border.
In May, Ambassador Tai implemented the first ever self-initiated labor enforcement case under the Brown-Wyden RRM in the USMCA. During a Finance Committee hearing, Brown asked Ambassador Tai what the use of the Brown-Wyden provision in the USMCA means for workers.
When he served as a member of the House of Representatives, Brown led the charge against NAFTA, forecasting the harm it would have on American workers and families. The USMCA was the first trade deal that Brown voted for. Brown will continue pushing for stronger trade and economic policies that value workers over corporations.
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